Need opinion! 2400/2500 or 2600+

[Nights_L]

I'm looking for the last upgrade of my system, i want to maxout my mobo, but I couldn't decide which of them to get, help me to decide~ any feeback are welcome!
I was looking for Barton 2500+, but I went to AMD's web site, they didn't recommend to use a Barton core on a KT333 mobo

MSI KT3 Ultra2, KT333 Based
Micron DDR SDRRAM PC2700 512MB
Radeon8500LE
Sound Blaster Live

 

[pIII_Man]

Well, according to msi's website the max fsb that your board "officially" supports is 133mhz (266mhz ddr), however per VIA the kt333 can support up to a 333mhz fsb. So, i would recomend getting the latest bios that msi offers and run your current cpu at the lowest multiplier that your board supports and set the fsb to 166mhz make sure your bios supports the 1/5 pci to fsb ratio. If your rig is stable at this setting than it will run any 333mhz fsb barton.


If it isn't a P6 then it isn't a procesor
110% BX fanboy

 

[scamtrOn]

hey poopy

you never come down to see me anymore [cry]

</font color=red><font color=orange><b>visit my site. then send me your freakin picture.
<A HREF="http://www.lochel.com" target="_new"><font color=red>www.lochel.com</A>

 

[pIII_Man]

i thought i was peepee?

Anyhow...i'll come down to see ya...


If it isn't a P6 then it isn't a procesor
110% BX fanboy

 

[slvr_phoenix]

Just play it safe and stick with only that which is 'officially' supported is my suggestion.

<pre><A HREF="http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20030905" target="_new"><font color=black>People don't understand how hard being a dark god can be. - Hastur</font color=black></A></pre><p>

 

[pIII_Man]

if the mobo can run 333mhz fsb then i do not see why a barton will not work...


If it isn't a P6 then it isn't a procesor
110% BX fanboy

 

[slvr_phoenix]

if the mobo can run 333mhz fsb then i do not see why a barton will not work...

I never said that it wouldn't work. I simply said that my suggestion was to stick to officially supported CPUs.

<pre><A HREF="http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20030905" target="_new"><font color=black>People don't understand how hard being a dark god can be. - Hastur</font color=black></A></pre><p>

 

[pIII_Man]

seems like you have no sense of adventure...

If your current cpu can run at 333mhz fsb then you will be able to run any 333mhz fsb cpu.


If it isn't a P6 then it isn't a procesor
110% BX fanboy

 

[slvr_phoenix]

seems like you have no sense of adventure...

Personally I have a reasonable sense of adventure. Perhaps it is not the most robust because it often involves calculating out ways of mitigating the damage should things not go well, but it is certainly there.

For example if it were me personally, I'd get the upgrade and at the same time be prepared to buy a new motherboard if the upgrade didn't work out. That way I can be daring and if successful, I saved money by not needing the new mobo. If I failed, the worst case is that I spend as much money as I had allocated originally. (Well, assuming that I don't blow anything up anyway. Heh heh.)

I just don't often make suggestions to people that reflect the same extremes that I might personally go to unless I'm 100% certain that the person I'm making a suggestion to is capable and willing to go to those extremes as well. Which is why I made the suggestion to just play it safe.

If your current cpu can run at 333mhz fsb then you will be able to run any 333mhz fsb cpu.

I'd love to agree with you, but I can't. AMD is often synonymous with 'budget'. As a result many AMD-based systems have motherboards with mediocre voltage regulators and other cut corners. (Admittedly, there are 'budget' Intel systems with the same problems, but those are far more rare.) And on top of that MSI is a company known for cutting corners on some products and having a rather poor quality assurance on others. Don't get me wrong, MSI's prices are usually worth that risk if you're willing to RMA and/or self-repair. I took that risk on my video card and it has payed off quite nicely.

But the point is that the pure power drain from the CPU alone might be enough of a reason that not <i>all</i> 333MHz FSB CPUs will run on it even though some of the lightweights do. And then again they might all work fine. The problem is that we don't know be cause we don't have assurance from the mobo manu. That makes it a wild-card.

Personally I'd give it a shot if it was a system for myself. (Though I'd play it safe if it was a system for a friend.) As a suggestion to someone else however, I suggest to play it safe until they express to me that they're willing to take that risk and fully understand the possibilities.

<pre><A HREF="http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20030905" target="_new"><font color=black>People don't understand how hard being a dark god can be. - Hastur</font color=black></A></pre><p>

 

[markgun]

With BIOS v. 5.7 that board is supposed to support the AXP up to 3000+ (333MHz FSB version, not the the 400). Manufacturers hardly update the information for the motherboards regarding new CPUs and such.

It has a 1/5 divider that automatically kicks in at an FSB around ~153MHz, at least that's what I was told in the MSI forums about 1 year ago.

<b>Qui habet aures audiendi audiat</b>

 

[markgun]

Here's a link for supported CPUs w/ that board:
<A HREF="http://www.msi.com.tw/program/support/cpu_support/cpu/spt_cpu_detail.php?UID=341" target="_new">http://www.msi.com.tw/program/support/cpu_support/cpu/spt_cpu_detail.php?UID=341</A>

Here's the latest BIOS information:
BIOS Type AMI® BIOS
File Size 521KB
Version 5.7 Update date 2003-2-24
Update Description
-Support AMD Barton XP3000+ (FSB333) CPU (For KT3 Ultra2 Only)
-Add "CPU Halt Command Detection" item in the BIOS Setup
-Fixed ATI 8500 AGP card cannot be used

<b>Qui habet aures audiendi audiat</b>

 

[markgun]

I was looking for Barton 2500+, but I went to AMD's web site, they didn't recommend to use a Barton core on a KT333 mobo

I think that's mainly because most of the KT333 boards don't have a 1/5 divider and some might not be able to properly power the CPU (as Silver said). You have one of the better KT333 boards though. Since MSI tested the Bartons with your board, they should work just fine. Just make sure you flash to BIOS 5.7 if you haven't already!


<b>Qui habet aures audiendi audiat</b>

 

[Nights_L]

That's what I'm wondering, cuz MSI has tested that Barton should work on my board..but when I went to AMD's web site, and search for 2500+, the KT3 Ultra 2 wasn't in the list of recommendation, in another words, all the Palomino and T-Bred A/B are recommended by AMD to use with KT3 Ultra2, but not the Barton

the divider you are talking about, I don't have that in Bios, I thought they are locked, no? or the newer chipset such as KT400 or nForce2 have that?
I used to think that's only for Intel's system..
I had that with my old Celeron
btw, the 2600+ i'm talking about, is the one with 166Mhz bus, not the one with 133Mhz bus
in this case, do you still think that Barton is a better choice?
and sure, I had Bios v5.7 long time ago~

 

[Nights_L]

the Officially supported speed of this board is 333Mhz..

 

[pIII_Man]

then you may run a barton, i was just a little confused because i am pretty sure under the mobo specs at msi's website it only said 133 (266mhz ddr) and 100 (200mhz ddr) fsb's were supported but the kt333 supports 333mhz bus, i think msi must have forgoten to update their site.


If it isn't a P6 then it isn't a procesor
110% BX fanboy

 

[markgun]

AMD's site is probably just outdated. Perhaps their recommendations were made prior to BIOS v5.7.

The dividers for the KT3 ULtra2 just make sure the AGP/PCI frequencies remain in spec at a 166MHz FSB. The board uses this divider automatically once the FSB approaches 166MHz, that's why there's no information in the BIOS about this.

It's really a toss up between those chips. Do you want to overclock? If so, you might want a chip with a multiplier greater than 13 because the KT333's FSB won't go much higher than 166MHz. The 2500+ Barton & 2600+ (333FSB) have low multipliers so you wouldn't get much out of them OC wise (unless you unlock their multipliers). Running everything stock, I'd say that the 2600+ (333FSB) would be your best choice. If you want to OC, a 2100+ T-bred B running at a 166MHz FSB would be equivalent to a 2700+.

<b>Qui habet aures audiendi audiat</b>

 

[Nights_L]

The Extra 256KBL2 Cache from Barton doesn't help much?

I'm not looking for overclocking, I'm thinking just run everything in stock..so 2600+ should be better, the reason i'm thinking about barton is cuz it's cheaper and have extra cache, also, runs cooler
btw, Aren't some 2500+'s multiplier already unlocked?

 

[markgun]

If you're running everything stock, a 2600+(333FSB) would be a better choice than the Barton, IMO.

<b>Qui habet aures audiendi audiat</b>

 

[Nights_L]

ok..then I guess that i'm taking 2600+ then, thx guys!

 

[pIII_Man]

very true, but the barton overclocks better than the tbred, but since you are not overclocking the tbred 2600+ performs better thant he barton 2600+ because it has a higher clock speed.


If it isn't a P6 then it isn't a procesor
110% BX fanboy